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The New Astronomy
by Nigel Henbest and Michael Marten 240 pages Level: Technical Illustrated survey of astronomical objects as "seen" through different wavelengths. |
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When I first became interested in Astronomy, the non-visual part of the spectrum held
little interest for me. The charts and graphs representing radio waves received from
distant objects were unexciting compared to the drama of Saturn's rings or the wispy
beauty of the Orion Nebula. This has changed thanks to the new computer generated
ways of displaying non-visual data. "The New Astronomy" gives an excellent survey of
both the exciting data coming in from deep space and how it's gathered.
There is a chapter devoted to optical astronomy, but most of "The New Astronomy" is devoted to increasingly shorter wavelengths. Every page is illustrated with one or more full color photographs. The authors have wisely decided to introduce each new major section of the electromagnetic spectrum with a description of the technology used to explore it and what objects its most suited to. There is no mathematics required but the reader should have some familiarity with the idea of wavelengths, stellar evolution and galaxies. |
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| Review by Ed Ehrlich | |
| Table Of Contents | |
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1 The New Astronomy 2 Solar System The Sun Venus Jupiter Saturn 3 Optical Astronomy 4 Starbirth Orion region Horsehead nebula Orion Nebula Orion infrared cluster W3 Carina Nebula Eta Carinae Hyades 5 Infrared Astronomy 6 Stardeath NGC 7027 Crab Nebula Tycho's supernova remnant Cassiopeia A Vela supernova remnant SS 433 G109.1-1.0 7 Radio Astronomy 8 Milky Way System Milky Way Centre of the Galaxy Large Magellanic cloud Tarantula Nebula 9 Ultraviolet Astronomy 10 Normal Galaxies Andromeda Galaxy (M31) M33 M51 M101 M81/M82 group M81 M82 11 X-ray & Gamma-ray Astronomy 12 Active Galaxies Centaurus A Cygnus A M87 NGC 1275 3C 273 Double quasar Picture Credits Index |
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